Mehmet Dere's work First Zinc is conceived as a self-portrait, encapsulating the transformations in the artist's life over the past three years. It reflects on the global and national changes since 2019, while simultaneously engaging with personal decisions and choices made by the artist. In this duality, the work serves as a record of a period shaped by circumstances, challenges, obstacles, comparisons, options, and moments of indecision.

The materiality of the piece references an enlarged version of a traditional wooden bingo piece, emphasizing the randomness and unpredictability inherent in choice. The embodiment of the concept of choice aligns with the artist's ongoing exploration of this theme in his recent works. Dere positions the concept of choice as an area of inquiry, examining the tension between the perceived human freedom to choose and the external conditions that constrain this freedom.

Human freedom, as articulated in Dere's work, does not guarantee the unencumbered realization of one's choices. Instead, freedom is conditional, shaped by the structures and demands of modern life. This highlights the interwoven nature of human actions and their outcomes, influenced by factors such as fate, societal norms, and individual agency. The frameworks of one's birthplace, family, and society impose boundaries that define and limit the individual experience of freedom. Thus, freedom becomes an experience lived within a matrix of predetermined conditions.

The piece consists of five numerical elements, symbolizing the intersection of individual autonomy and societal frameworks. If fate is a game governed by randomly drawn numbers, Dere metaphorically participates in this process by selecting five numbers on his behalf. This act becomes a reflection on the interplay between agency and determinism, suggesting that choice itself may be as much about circumstance as it is about autonomy.

First Zinc transforms into a fertile space for inquiry, where the act of creation becomes an exploration of possibility and limitation. Dere's imagery resists explicit narrative, instead opening a conceptual space where potential and contingency coexist. This space invites viewers to engage with layers of meaning, emphasizing the richness of what remains unspoken and the opportunities embedded in silence.